Linda Lou's Making Me Homesick

 For at least two years, maybe longer, there has been an ongoing effort by more than one individual attempting to make my homesick for my old home zone of the Pacific Northwest State of Washington.

The most concentrated of these homesick campaign efforts has been a series of vintage postcards featuring Birch Bay.

Yesterday, New Year's Day, the above showed up on my phone, from Mount Vernon's Linda Lou. No text, just a photo of what looks to be a road aiming at Mount Rainier. Yes, it really does look like that.

I have a friend here in Wichita Falls, originally from Dallas, a lifelong Texan. A couple years ago she flew to the west coast for the first time, to Seattle. She had never been to a location before where no matter which direction you looked you see mountains.

And then the friends she was visiting took her their cabin, near Enumclaw, close to Mount Rainier. They arrived at the cabin after dark. The next morning she walked outside and found herself startled by seeing Mount Rainier, so close, looking so big. She described it as mesmerizing.

Above is another Washington mountain scene. This one is the view from Artist's Point by Mount Baker. That is not Mount Baker we see in this view. I think Mount Baker would be to the right.

Artist's Point is near the Mount Baker ski area. In winter I do not think it is possible to get a direct look at Mount Baker from this location. Well, maybe one could cross country ski to the location of the parking lot that opens in summer when the snow has withered away.

Okay, now that I am homesick it is time to go do something else....

Happy New Year !

I found that which you see above in my email this morning of the first day of the New Year of 2023.

Sent by my Favorite Jason Nephew, who took a photo of his TV screen when Seattle's KOMO NEWS showed photos of the Final Sunbreaks of 2022, with one of those photos being a sunbreak lighting up Birch Bay.

Birch Bay is a shallow bay in Whatcom County, a short distance south of the Canadian border. Being shallow, the water of Birch Bay gets warm in summer when the sun heats up the sand at low tide, which heats up the water when the tide rolls back in.

The past two summers I have expected to be spending some time at Birch Bay. But little things like COVID have thwarted those plans.

I am now sort of expecting to be in Washington this coming summer of 2023, but am not too confident that there won't be something that once again thwarts being in Washington...

Final Friday Of 2022 At Lucy Park

To Lucy Park I drove today on this, the final Friday of 2022. As you can see, there is nary a cloud in the sky, or a leaf on the trees.

The shade of the Lucy Park jungle is no more, not til it returns in Spring of 2023.

The temperature was in the 50s whilst I was doing my nature communing today. I had on too many layers for the relatively warm conditions.

Jason Photo Documents A 35 Year Old Burlington Scene

Email from my Favorite Jason Nephew this morning, with the photo you see above and the following text...

FUD-

Thought you’d enjoy this newly found photo.

You might be able to identify two of the pictured subjects, and most likely will know the photograph location.   Photo dated June, 1987.

FNJ

Well, on the left that looks to be the aforementioned Jason, at around 8 years old. And on the right, that would be Jason's younger brother, my Favorite Joey Nephew. I would guess Joey to be 5 or 6 years old.

I have no clue who the boy in the middle is.

I know for certain the location, where the boys are sitting, is Maiben Park in Burlington. That house you see above Joey's head is the house I grew up in. 

I replied to Jason's email with "That is you on the left, and I think Joey on the right. Who is the kid in the middle?"

To which Jason replied "I believe the kid in the middle's name is Jared.  But I am not 100 percent certain. This was most likely taken during a Vacation Bible School trip to the park sponsored by the Burlington Lutheran Church. Is that your father's white GMC pickup and mother's Mazda in the background?"

I replied that I do not remember dad having a white GMC pickup, or mom having a Mazda. But, we are looking at something 35 years ago. I do not remember what vehicle I was driving 35 years ago, let alone what vehicles mom and dad were driving.

Walk Around Partially Frozen Sikes Lake On Final Tuesday Of 2022

With the temperature 16 degrees above freezing I ventured to Sikes Lake this final Tuesday of 2022, for a walk around the lake.

I was not alone.

Today I saw more joggers jogging around Sikes Lake than I have seen anytime previous.

I suspect the joggers were getting an early start on their New Year's Resolution to get in better shape.

I always make note of an uptick in the number of people outdoors getting exercise at the start of a new year. Those numbers quickly drop as the New Year's resolve dissipates.

Sikes Lake is currently partially frozen. In the above photo the shiny part of the lake is the iced up part.

The non-shiny part is not iced up, hence a little wave action from the wind.

Geese were walking on the ice. That looked a bit weird. I was not able to successfully photo document how weird it looked.

The Instant Pot is beeping. That means it is time for some Baked Potato Soup...

Christmas Lucy Park Walk With Frozen Wichita River

Til today, Christmas, I had not communed with nature since, if I remember right, last Wednesday, when the Big Chill Deep Freeze began moving into town.

The Deep Freeze has lifted, with the outer world warmed to above freezing. So, it was to Lucy Park I ventured today for that aforementioned communing with nature.

I was surprised when I saw the Wichita River to see that it was frozen. Well, not completely frozen, but frozen enough to have a sheet of ice on the river's surface.

The Deep Freeze has removed the remaining leaves from all the trees. They are now all stripped totally naked. No longer providing any shade from the blazing sun.

By the middle of the coming week, we are slated to be warmed into the 70s. 

Merry Christmas With Skunks & Gaiters

This morning, I unwrapped the packages which have been sitting under my imaginary Christmas tree.

Above is photo documentation of some of what I found inside the packages.

I think my favorite thing I unwrapped in the baseball cap you see in the center of the photo documentation.

I should have positioned the baseball cap so you could see why I liked it.

I shall take a photo of the baseball cap.

The individual who sent this skunky baseball cap to me regularly calls me a skunk, or a stinker, sometimes in the same sentence.

I found two instances of smoked salmon in the unwrapped packages. One a version in a jar, from Pike Place Market, in Seattle. The other smoked salmon is in a big box, from Trident Seafood, also in Seattle.

Also found two pair of sweatpants. One of the sweatpants is Sherpa lined.

One of the packages was labeled "For the Durango Kid". Inside was a blue plaid flannel shirt from Land's End. 

I think I will wear the blue plaid flannel shirt from Land's End when I go walking outdoors today, pairing it with something I found in another package, a thing called a gaiter, which is also blue.

I shall model the blue gaiter for you...

This gaiter thing looks like it should help keep out the cold.

Another thing I found in one of the packages I found yesterday when I opened a box to find several gift wrapped items, along with some unwrapped items. One of the unwrapped items was little chocolate malt ball looking things in a green mesh bag. 

I was told these little chocolate balls were marzipan. Not knowing what marzipan is, I Googled to learn...

Marzipan is flavored with almonds – and almonds contain a source of cyanide, amygdalin. Amygdalin can be broken down by enzymes in the gut to release hydrogen cyanide, which is readily absorbed into the blood and transported to cells where it can stop cell respiration in its tracks.

The marzipan was sent by the same person who sent the skunk baseball cap. It was with some trepidation I risked trying one of the chocolate malt ball looking marzipans.

Tasty. No hint of almond. And apparently the dose of cyanide was not fatal.

It has warmed up enough that I think I need to do some nature communing today. And after that I will make my traditional Christmas lunch of instant pot macaroni and cheese, with air fried tempura chicken, plus broccoli...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Theo, David & Ruby Breaking Tacoma Car Ice Windows

My old home zone of Western Washington is currently one big slippery sheet of ice, bringing most forms of transportation to a stop.

Including Amazon packages timed to arrive right before Christmas. 

This is what you see when you track packages currently stuck in Western Washington...

"Packages have beens delayed due to severe weather in the delivery network."

Last night a video arrived from Tacoma, via email. In that video we see Theo, David & Ruby being directed to break what one first thinks is a car window. And then when the window easily shatters it is apparently it is a sheet of ice which has been shattered.

Which explains what you are looking at above and below, screen caps from the ice shattering video.

And below you can watch the video, via YouTube of Theo, David & Ruby Breaking an Ice Window...

Happy Festivus From Iced Nephew Jason

Email this December 23 morning from my Favorite Nephew Jason. The email came with two photos and the following text...

"Happy Festivus. Freezing rain today. If you’re flying up for the holidays, note that SeaTac airport is currently closed, dealing with iced over runways.  I am currently attempting a trip to my hamburger stand in Anacortes".

I knew, via reading the Seattle Times this morning, that Sea-Tac was closed, as was all King County bus service.

I did not know til learning such from Jason, that my old home zone was also slicked up,

In the text in the email Jason says he is attempting to make it to his hamburger stand in Anacortes. Related to that attempt, the photo above makes sense. Jason his driving down the hill upon which he lives, heading to downtown Mount Vernon, where he'd cross the bridge over the Skagit River to West Mount Vernon, driving Memorial Highway til it becomes Highway 20, taking him to Anacortes.

At the bottom of that hill in the photo above there is an entry to Interstate 5, to the right, heading north towards Burlington.

So, if these photos are documenting Jason's slippery drive to Anacortes, what is the explanation for the second photo?

The photo above is clearly the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River, heading north. I see Burlington Hill through the fog. This is not the way to Anacortes. Well, not the most direct route from Jason's home location to Anacortes.

Two days into Winter and I am ready for Spring...

Super Cold In My Old Home Zone

Incoming from my Favorite Nephew Jason.

The only explanatory text accompanying two photos was "11 degrees this morning in Mount Vernon, Washington."

11 degrees is also the current temperature at my current loction.

I do not recollect it getting that cold in all my years of living in the Western Washington lowlands.

In Eastern Washington, in Ellensburg, when I was attending Central Washington State University, I remember returning from Christmas vacation to find the temperature 17 degrees below zero.

At my current location, near Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas, a strong wind blowing has the current 11 degrees feeling like 8 degrees below zero.

In Jason's cold photo, above, I believe we are looking east at the new bridge which crosses the Skagit River, connecting Mount Vernon to Burlington. That would seem to indicate the photo was taken from the vantage point of the I-5 bridge.